JBU Announces $125 Million ‘Campaign for the Next Century'
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (Jan. 21, 2015) - John Brown University today announced $125 million capital campaign to be completed by the school’s centennial in 2019.
JBU’s Campaign for The Next Century: A Hope and Future will support JBU’s mission by securing financial commitments in five areas: $35 million for scholarships, $30 million for new and renovated facilities, $10 million to endow academic excellence, $25 million in estate gifts for future endowment, and $25 million for future projects and operating support.
“Since the university’s founding almost 100 years ago, JBU has endeavored to train students to honor God through service to others,” said Dr. Chip Pollard, JBU president. “As we look forward to the start of JBU’s next century, this campaign is about strengthening that same foundation of excellent Christian higher education so that future JBU students will also have the opportunity for a hope and a future.”
In total to date $58.3 million has be given or pledged to the campaign, including nearly $5 million in previously unannounced gifts that were revealed at the campaign launch event at the Berry Performing Arts Center on the JBU’s Siloam Springs campus this morning.
The new gifts include (see related press releases):
- An anonymous $2 million gift to create the Charles Peer Endowed Chair in Visual Arts
- An anonymous $1 million gift challenge grant for visual arts scholarships for students in visual arts
- An anonymous $1.2 million gift for the renovation of the Walton Lifetime Health Complex
- A gift from the Soderquist Family Foundation for $300,000 for a Strategic Initiative Fund for the Soderquist College of Business
- A preliminary commitment of $500,000 from the City of Siloam Springs for the WLHC
Today’s announcement moves the seven-year campaign from its private phase, which began in 2012, into its public phase. The campaign is scheduled for completion at JBU’s centennial celebration in 2019.
“Part of helping to give students ‘a hope and a future’ is ensuring we keep JBU’s Christian higher education affordable,” said Dr. Jim Krall, vice president for advancement. “That is why we estimate nearly half of the campaign will go not only toward scholarships for today, but also, with endowment gifts and estate gifts, toward scholarships that will impact students well into JBU’s next century.”
Other previously announced projects that are part of the campaign include:
- The $6 million Simmons Great Hall, a 600-person-capacity banquet facility that opened in 2013.
- The $3 million Northslope Apartments, non-traditional student housing for 94 students, opened in 2013.
- The $5.5 million J. Alvin Brown Hall renovation project, which completely gutted and remodeled the historic men’s residence hall. The renovation was completed in 2014.
- A $12 million building fund and endowment for a proposed new nursing program at JBU. JBU is scheduled to break ground on a new state-of-the-art nursing building in August 2015.
“Anyone who has run a campus of any size knows there are significant expenses beyond the design and construction costs” said Dr. Steve Beers, vice president of student development, facilities services and athletics. “We always endow new buildings because we don’t want to pass on operating costs, such as the energy and maintenance expenses, to students. This has been a key part of our commitment to keep college affordable.”
For more information, visit www.jbu.edu/NextCentury.
“This campaign is historic because in 2019 JBU is completing 100 years of Christian higher education. It’s historic because of the dollar amount. And it’s historic because these resources, buildings, endowments, and more will impact generations of JBU students to come,” said Lucas Roebuck, director of university communications.
John Brown University is a private Christian university, ranked No. 1 overall and a Best Value among Southern regional colleges by U.S. News. JBU enrolls more than 2,800 students from 42 states and 40 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, degree completion and concurrent education programs. JBU is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and a founding member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
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